


Hyacinth and Daffodil

by Grimalkinii



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 18:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30143568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grimalkinii/pseuds/Grimalkinii
Summary: Junko arranges a meeting with Sagume Kishin and Seiran in order to settle a matter pertaining to the events of Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom. From Seiran's perspective.
Kudos: 2





	Hyacinth and Daffodil

The woman sitting across from me was tall. Like,  _ really _ tall. Even if I stood on my tiptoes, the top of my head only came up to her collar, and even though there were rabbit’s ears that poked up from the top of my head, even then she was  _ still _ taller than me, if only just by a bit. She was really pretty, too - long blonde hair that framed her beautiful face, generous proportions, full lips, flawless skin… if it weren’t for the dead red eyes that only ever looked like she was about to either cry or tear you to shreds, she’d be a knockout. I wished she’d smile. Her clothes, too - elegant to a fault, like she was a princess in her own right. Well, maybe she was. A long, black dress that dragged on the ground a bit (I felt a bit bad for it), a refined tabard with swirls of yellow and blue overlaid on a red background with golden trim, and a similarly-patterned headdress that almost looked a bit like a nurse’s cap. I was too scared to make that comparison to her face, though. Especially since she’d been our enemy not too long ago.

To my left, seated on a mat in the mansion in the bamboo forest, was Lady Sagume. She was a pretty big deal on the Lunar Capital, so I was really surprised that she was here visiting the Earth at all. I was even more surprised when she specifically requested my presence at this meeting. Maybe it was because I knew her better, but I found her a little easier on the eyes than the other lady, even. Short silver hair, a very handsome face, and a simple purple dress with an off-white overcoat. A bit slimmer than the blonde lady in the room, too. She also had a single snow-white feathered wing that reminded me of a cartoon character I’d seen in that half-youkai’s shop. Apparently he was a very popular fictional character on Earth right about now, which I didn’t really understand since he was supposed to be a villain.

Anyway, the meeting. I’d been called here by Lady Yagokoro a few days ago. She said she’d hold a separate meeting for Ringo; ‘come to the mansion in the bamboo forest’, the letter had said, but how the heck was I supposed to know where that was? Luckily the guide was there at the entrance to the bamboo forest. She was another tall, handsome lady with long white hair. (Is the Earth actually full of people like that? After all, Lady Yagokoro is like that too…) She didn’t talk much, but she didn’t seem like she was in a bad mood, either. So I got here, was greeted, and ushered into a room where the giant woman was already sitting on a mat. Lady Sagume got here not long after, and now, here we were, with Miss Dead-Eyes just staring at us without a word. It was sort of creepy. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little scared of her, after what she did to the Lunar Capital.

Her eyes broke from us for a moment as she glanced towards the doorway. They swivelled back towards us, and she opened her mouth to speak.

“I’m sorry for what I put you through,” she said quietly, remorsefully - her voice was unexpectedly husky, but those dead eyes kept staring straight on at me. It was unsettling, and one of my hands came up to idly twirl my blue hair. Something of a nervous habit, I guess. Lady Sagume was quiet, and didn’t answer - although that was characteristic of her. Her power made it hard for her to participate in conversation. She made up for it with being very expressive with her eyes and body language. What she  _ did _ do was tilt her head to one side and cock an eyebrow, as if to ask ‘Huh? What are you getting at?’

The scary lady seemed to take the hint, shifting forwards in her seat. “It should be obvious. I have done you two harm, however unavoidable, and am expressing my remorse for it. There was never any intent to hurt anyone except for…  _ her _ ,” she said, spitting the last word like it was a rotten fruit she’d accidentally eaten. “In addition, I hold no malice towards anyone still alive except  _ her _ .”

A few questions popped up in my mind when I heard that. I’m sure some of them popped up in Lady Sagume’s head too, so I resigned myself to being her voice as well as my own, and swallowed my fear of uttering even a word to this woman. “You… didn’t mean to hurt anyone? But you  _ did _ hurt people,” I responded.

“I know. And I am sincerely sorry for it. However, I do not expect you both to understand my feelings. Rage is a powerful drug,” she said, lightning-fast as if she had expected that question in the first place. “And it makes us do things that, while sating our anger, we later regret.”

Huh. I supposed that was true. After all, I could think of plenty of times where I’d done or said something out of anger that I ended up wishing I could take back. “So… are you saying you were wrong? That you’ve given up on… whatever your plan was?”

“Oh no, of course not.” Finally, she smiled. But… it was a weird one.

_ Eh? _

“I do not think I am in the wrong for attempting to take revenge on  _ her.  _ Don’t get me wrong. She is the object of my hatred. You may even call it an obsession. I  _ will _ try again in the future to take my revenge. I  _ will _ kill her.” I blinked, dumbfounded. Was this lady for real? Was she really admitting so openly to planning another attack on the Capital with Lady Sagume right here? She seemed to think so too, since she looked like she was just as flabbergasted as I was.

“ **But!** ” Dead-Eye Lady said sharply, bringing me back to the conversation. “I no longer believe attacking the people of the Moon is the proper way to achieve my goal. Even if I did come up with another plan, the Lunarians are smarter than I gave them credit for. And I don’t wish to harm innocents anymore.” She raised a hand and placed it over her heart, looking dead at me. “I swear I will only gain my revenge directly.”

Well… that was surprising. I wouldn’t have expected a cold-blooded killer bent on revenge to have the capability to show apologize, or especially to show remorse. I looked over at Lady Sagume. She seemed like she was deep in thought, since she was looking more at the floor than the blonde woman across from me. 

“Harming those who had nothing to do the reason for my grudge is not what my son would have wanted from me,” she said sadly. When I looked back to her, I could swear there was a tear rolling down her cheek, even though her eyes were still lifeless. 

“Your son?” I asked. I think I was starting to get the picture...

“Yes, my dear son. He is gone now. He has been for a very long time,” she said, her voice cracking, her eyes watering. She swallowed hard, fighting back the urge she must have been feeling to cry. “I miss him so very much. Which is why I feel terrible about what I did to so many of your people. I have robbed mothers of their sons just as she has done to me. That is why I am sorry.”

Lady Sagume didn’t look away from the floor, but I heard an audible sigh from her. I gulped hard and twiddled my thumbs, finding it hard to look the tall woman in the eye now for some reason. Now  _ I  _ felt like the bad guy for trying to fight against her. “I, uh… As long as you don’t attack the Capital again, I don’t see why I can’t forgive you. Uh… well, that’s really up to Lady Sagume, but you seem really sorry, and it’s all in the past now… Not to be rude, but I wouldn’t be much better than you if I couldn’t forgive people when they wronged me…”

Lady Sagume looked at me all of a sudden. Having her gaze directly on me made me blush, since this situation was already pretty embarrassing. The tall woman couldn’t hold back her tears anymore, I guess, since she started bawling openly. And loudly. I was worried she might make the inhabitants of this mansion - including Lady Yagokoro - come running and scold us for being loud and making her cry, but they never did. Instead Lady Sagume smiled at me and nodded, as if to say ‘That was the right decision’. And then, a voice I scarcely heard.

“If this child can forgive you,” Lady Sagume started, “then I can find it in my heart to overlook your transgressions as well, Junko.” That was enough to send the other lady - apparently named Junko - into a fit. She threw herself on the floor, bawling and just saying ‘Thank you’ over and over. I couldn’t understand her anguish. After all I’ve never been a mother, or loved somebody closely enough that I’d… well, do what she did. But part of me understood her desire to apologize when you’ve done something you later learn was wrong. I’d invaded Gensokyo with the intention to rid it of life so that the Lunar Capital could be moved here. I’d had to apologize to plenty of people since I decided to stay. And I’d decided to move on and try to get along with everybody that I’d wronged. In a way, I guess we’re kind of similar.

After Junko calmed down, we started with proper introductions of ourselves and tried to talk normally for a while. It was pretty awkward, especially since Lady Sagume didn’t really contribute much and Junko started talking about how all the ‘moon rabbits on Earth were interesting’ and even came up with an embarrassing nickname for me. I got the feeling she might have been looking at me like a kid because of my height, but it wouldn’t be so bad to be doted on sometimes. After a short while of that, Lady Yagokoro came and showed us out. To my surprise, she asked us to come again some time - she didn’t really seem like the social type, but her and Lady Sagume must have known each other pretty well.

I made my way home after being escorted out by that white-haired guide. To my surprise, she had started a small conversation on the way back - nothing major, just some ideas for dango recipes since she’d seen my stall in the Village every so often. We talked dango, bid each other goodbye, and then I went home with complex feelings that I couldn’t really sort out. I lay in bed for a long time just staring at the ceiling, wondering if what I’d decided would make sense to Ringo, and if she would do the same.

No, of course she would. She was just like me in that sense. That’s why we fought so often. She would forgive Junko just as I had, and just as Lady Sagume had, for the same reasons we did. Wouldn’t most people in that situation? I pulled out the hairbands keeping my hair in two tails, hugged my pillow tight, and drifted off to dreams of sailing by compass to a land of hyacinths and daffodils… 


End file.
